Funds to nonprofits benefit politicians
I never thought I would be defending Mayor Kirk Caldwell but the article, "Caldwell, Council trade brickbats on budget plans" demands his support (Star-Advertiser, May 30).
The $14 million that the City Council wants to award to nonprofits is, and always has been, a slush fund for city politicians to reward their political supporters.
The Leeward Coast Community Benefits Program was supposedly established to provide an offset to the Leeward Coast for it having to support the only landfill on the island. But, the communities of Nanakuli and Waianae that receive benefits are five and 10 miles away from the landfill, and do not have any negative consequences from it.
The benefits program was established by then-Mayor Mufi Hannemann as a means of spreading city money to nonprofits that would later support his re-election. A 2010 audit of the program blasted its distribution of funds to groups that did not provide proper accounting for spending of the funds.
Garry P. Smith
Ewa Beach
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Hawaii phasing law broad and vague
Attorney General David Louie claims that Senate Bill 1171 brings Hawaii law in line with federal law ("Governor is correct about legality of phased reviews," Star-Advertiser, Letters, June 2). However, he cites federal regulation, not federal law.
Hawaii’s new phasing law is unique. Projects that wouldn’t stand a chance of phasing under federal regulation easily qualify for it under Hawaii’s new law, which is broad and vague.
Mr. Louie opines that "phasing promotes better design planning." The historic preservation community of Native Hawaiians, architects and archaeologists holds the opposite opinion. It is hard to imagine how planning could be enhanced by a lack of information.
Mr. Louie’s other opinion, that phasing "avoids disturbance of iwi kupuna outside the final project footprint," discounts the testimony of Native Hawaiians who care for iwi kupuna. They opposed SB 1171 because early inventory surveys help them meet their responsibilities to their ancestors.
Thomas S. Dye
Chinatown
Ala Moana Center ignoring residents
So, on it goes. Locals are no longer taken into account when choosing new stores to open in Ala Moana Center ("Bloomingdale’s is latest luxe store at Ala Moana," Star-Advertiser, May 18).
Aren’t there enough high-end stores already?
My family and I used to go to the center every Saturday, but lately we go less and less — and now that Sears has left, maybe not at all.Pearlridge, here we come.General Growth is pushing away the locals and may come to regretit when we have another downturn in tourism.
Lani Johnson
Salt Lake
Resolution should help homeowners
Your May 23 Kokua Line column discussed problems facing homeowners who are applying for building permits to renovate homes over 50 years old ("State law requires review of property over 50 years old").
The column did not mention Resolution 13-82, which urges the creation of an exemption for certain single-family dwellings from review by the State Historic Preservation Division (SHPD). The City Council’s Zoning Committee approved the measure, which should be adopted by the full Council on Wednesday.
Currently, the Department of Planning and Permitting (DPP) will not issue a building permit for properties over 50 years old without SHPD’s review. DPP has routinely followed this procedure even with respect to single-family homes in neighborhoods like Mililani, which the Legislature clearly never intended to include in the definition of "historic properties" under Hawaii Revised Statutes Chapter 6E.
Resolution 13-82 assists homeowners who wish to do basic home renovations and repairs. With more cooperation between the city and state, this problem should be resolved.
Ron Menor
Councilmember, District 9 (Waikele, Waipahu, Ewa, Ewa Beach, Mililani Town)
Bulky pickup fine goes only 1 way
The city recently passed a new ordinance that will cite and fine property owners for putting bulky items on the curb prior to pick-up day.
Hawaii Kai is scheduled for bulky pickup starting on the fourth Wednesday of the month.
Residents on my street were great last month as the new law took effect. I did not see one early pile of trash on the curb.
However, the pickup has not been too outstanding. Everything was still sitting on the curb.
Why can homeowners be fined, when the City and County can just fail to do its job?
Ron McQuaid Sr.
Hawaii Kai
Observation towers seem overpriced
Dave Reardon’s sports column reports that the University of Hawaii would like to have two permanent observation towers for shooting video of football practice ("At UH, even simple projects can’t get off the ground," Star-Advertiser, Further Review, May 31).
The budget was $500,000, including $50,000 for design, but so far the design has cost $165,000 and the construction estimate is $1 million. This is absolutely ludicrous.
Observation towers are available as standard items.They don’t need to be custom-designed, and two of them should not cost anywhere near a million dollars, probably more like one-tenth of that. About five minutes on the Internet turned up a company in Missouri called Porta-King Building Systems. One of its Web pages is devoted to "Sports Video and Viewing Towers." No doubt there are other similar companies.
No wonder the UH Athletics Department is losing money hand over fist.
Edward Conklin
Waikiki